Thursday, June 21, 2012

Dropping the Hammer - An Idea for Enhancing 40k Balance in Competitive Events

In an effort to find creative ways of improving balance in organized play, I was kicking around the following idea. Your feedback is greatly appreciated.

The Hammer Drop Rule for Tournament Play

Using this rule, each player is required to bring a standard 1500 point list. Additionally, they must bring a 250 point "hammer" list. The hammer list must fit into the same FOC as the base list, so if a player fills all of his heavy support slots in the base list, his hammer list cannot have any heavy support choices. The hammer list must consist of entirely separate units from the base list. You cant use the hammer list to beef up one or more units in the base list.

At the beginning of the event, each player is given a token with their name on it to represent the use of their hammer. In the event that they elect to employ their hammer in a particular game, they must give this token to their opponent. Players will collect these tokens throughout the event as they get "hammered".

The hammer list represents additional forces that a player can bring to bear in only one match in the event. Once it is used, it cannot be used a second time.

At the beginning of each round, after examining the opponent's army list, the participants in each match secretly determine whether or not they wish to "drop the hammer" in that game if they have not previously expended it. The players' decisions are revealed simultaneously. If only one player elects to use his hammer, his opponent immediately has the option of doing so as well if he has not previously expended it. However, if neither player employs their hammer, the decision cannot be changed and neither player can use it in that game.

At the end of the event, the number of hammer tokens a player has collected (including his own if it was not expended) could be used as a tie breaker where multiple players have the same record.

Since lists perceived to be OP will be hammer magnets, the incentive will be for players to bring lists that will be perceived as balanced and not hammer worthy.

What do you think? Would you play in an event organized in this fashion? How would it impact the list you bring?